I'm impressed with your design for the ritsuki. You've got a lot of skill -- where do you learn to draw skeletons in that much detail? You incorporated a long, deep chest form and narrow pelvis more typical of quadrupeds (though quads also have taller pelvises) and gave them a natural-looking but inhuman posture, though their crania still look quite human.

The size of the tail doesn't seem consistent with where you put the crotch (whatever the technical name for that is :p)

A question about digitigrades -- when I draw them, they end up looking funny if I clearly outline all the toes, but if I only partially outline them, it looks good. (Though I'm generally not happy with that picture.) Your toes seem to do different things -- sometimes they're flat, and sometimes they're tall or curled. Are the toes flat? And, where the metatarsals meet phalanges, do they line up in a line, or in an arc?

In the bones picture, they're supposed to look flat, because in that picture the foot is positioned such that the heel would also be touching the ground (essentially, pointing the toes, only they're not pointed... x_X man, I suck at talking. Not arched. Like human feet at rest.) As for the other pictures, well, chalk it up to the fact that I've never drawn these before. The toes will probably keep the more curled look, because it's somehow easier and I think I like it better.

The toes look good on your picture. They look rounder than Ritsuki toes, so the contour line probably works better on them than they would on a Ritsuki's toes.

And, where the metatarsals meet phalanges, do they line up in a line, or in an arc?

Now that's a good question. I suppose I've drawn it both ways, haven't I? (Hey, don't blame me...they're still in production, technically... ) I'll probably stick to an arc. Or maybe I'll continue to draw it both ways and assume that you're the only one who cares anyhow. Nyah.

I've been looking through your comic (Bwah-ha-haaa!) too. Though I've enjoyed it so far, there's not a whole lot for me to comment on yet...however! I am most perplexed by the pronunciation of your name, as indicated on the most recent page. How do you palatalize a velar consonant? I've never heard of that. I can't even do it...but then, that's probably just because of English's lack of palatal stops. Or is that another way of writing the voiceless velar stop followed by the palatal glide? (When you write /k_j/ instead of /kj/, it makes me think it must be an allophone...?) Also, what does "apical" mean? I couldn't find it anywhere in my linguistics book. Obviously it exists and is important, which is why I want to know what it is...

... And actually, is there any way you could write the name in IPA? (maybe even make it a graphic if you have to?) I think that's big reason why I'm having trouble figuring out the pronunciation...I'm too used to IPA. Hee hee. This is your fault for piquing my curiosity! Hey, look on the bright side--if nothing else, it has further encouraged me to read more of your comic...

The /k_j/ is an allophone of /kj/... I'm not very familiar with sampa or ipa so I did my best, actually the k does palatalize before y: say "kya" to yourself, then say "kwa"...

Apical means it's pronounced with the tip of the tongue. Actually I was not entirely sure how to write that phoneme, I posted a question on a conlang board and used the answer that I thought made the most sense. Try saying 's' placing the tip of your tongue roughly where you would say 't'.

Hey, if you know this much about language, then why the caustic phonology of phorian?

heatsink wrote:Apical means it's pronounced with the tip of the tongue. Actually I was not entirely sure how to write that phoneme, I posted a question on a conlang board and used the answer that I thought made the most sense. Try saying 's' placing the tip of your tongue roughly where you would say 't'.

S and T are articulated in the same place, at the alveolar ridge. However, I'm pretty sure I know what you mean...this is a difference between pronouncing S with the tounge tip and pronouncing it with the tongue blade? Cool. Shanks.

I'm still unclear as to why you differentiate between /kj/ and /k_j/. I bet that problem wouldn't be solved, though, unless I could hear the difference... unfortunately. (The comparison with /kwa/ just confuses me... w is labial. What's it doing in there?)

I meant to respond to something from your earlier post, but I forgot--what is it about the tail that looks strange? I've never really drawn big tails like this before, so I don't know what I should change. Does it look like it attaches too low? Or is it something else about it that I can't see?

Hey, if you know this much about language, then why the caustic phonology of phorian?

Because I said so. Uh...in all seriousness, there are indeed some rather crazy consonant clusters in Phorian that would almost certainly be simplified over time, but, well, I can get away with it being this way. So there. Does it look that unpleasant? It can be a little harsh-sounding, but it doesn't have to be. At some point I'll probably put up something about the phonology of Phorian, but not TOO soon... I don't actually know enough about phonology yet to do that.

Oh, maybe I should change to kj then. My point with comparing kya to kwa was that the k is articulated differently between the two.

What looks funny about the tails is that the crotch in front looks higher than the bottom of the tail in back.

Phorian looks like a stereotypical "ugly language", like Klingon, phonologically limited and unsuited to the human mouth. The language could have a little more character if it were a little more human.

Anyway, sorry for overanalyzing your comic, it's just a show, I really should relax.

heatsink wrote:What looks funny about the tails is that the crotch in front looks higher than the bottom of the tail in back.

Okay, that's what I figured you meant. Good shtuff.

Phorian looks like a stereotypical "ugly language", like Klingon, phonologically limited and unsuited to the human mouth. The language could have a little more character if it were a little more human.

You'd be amazed the kind of sounds that exist in human languages...More throaty languages often sound "uglier" to us English-speakers (and I really wanted to include some of the sounds from these languages, because they're cool, but since I can't produce them myself, I decided to refrain). Don't worry, Phorian isn't going to go underdeveloped...I'm working hard with the limited amount of phonology knowledge I have to make it seem like a believable human language. I was really tempted to put in some clicks, but then Phorian would start becoming a dumping-ground for all the phones I've ever wanted to hear in a language. That would be ridiculous. Anyway...

My point (I think?) is that while Phorian may look really harsh, it is only that way if you speak it that way. Actually, I personally think it looks nice, but that's because I threw in all those ph's and x's, which I love the sight of... *grin* we don't have enough o' those in English.

But now that you've brought it to my attention, I'll be on the lookout for particularly Klingon-y tendencies in the language...

Anyway, sorry for overanalyzing your comic, it's just a show, I really should relax.